paralepsis
- noun
- /ˌpærəˈlɛp.sɪs/
- Literature
- The politician used paralepsis to draw attention to his opponent’s mistakes while claiming to ignore them.
Examples
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The speaker used paralepsis to highlight the issue without directly addressing it.
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Writers often employ paralepsis to highlight controversial topics while maintaining plausible deniability.
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In his speech, he relied on paralepsis to make insinuations without stating them outright.
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Did you notice how she employed paralepsis in her argument?
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The politician used paralepsis to draw attention to his opponent’s mistakes while claiming to ignore them.
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In his speech, he relied on paralepsis to make insinuations without stating them outright.
-
Writers often employ paralepsis to highlight controversial topics while maintaining plausible deniability.
Synonyms
1
9.9
Briefly mention something while saying you will not give the important details
1
9.9
Saying you will not talk about something to draw attention to it
1
9.9
To pretend not to mention something while actually making people notice it
A way of bringing up something by saying you will not talk about it
How Emphatic
Surface Forms
Morphology
paralepsis = para + lepsis
This is a learned Greek borrowing built from classical elements, but the root is not a transparent standalone English word for most learners.
Etymology
Paralepsis comes from Greek parts para- meaning 'beside' and -lepsis meaning 'to leave out', and it is like the word ellipsis, which also shows omission. So, paralepsis is a way to make people notice something by pretending to ignore it, as when someone says 'I won't mention his mistakes' and everyone thinks about them.